Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Nichols makes it official

eLECTIONWatch2014

Orange Net News /O/N/N/

Nichols first to make her run official and another
potential Villa Park candidate pulls papers

Former Orange Unified
Trustee Kimberlee "Kim" Nichols has filed her paper work to run for
Orange City Council. Nichols was the
first of five potential candidates who have pulled papers to officially file.

In Villa
Park, another potential candidate has pulled papers. Robert
"Bob" Collacott has pulled papers -making five potential candidates
for the three seats up for election. Collacott is the Manager of Water Quality
and Permitting for URS, a San
Francisco based construction and engineering
firm.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Two more potential candidates

eLECTIONWatch2014

a service ofOrange Net News /O/N/N/

Two more pull papers for Orange
and Villa Park councils

Gayle
Merino has pulled papers for the Orange City Council. Merino works as the
office manager for her husband Michael's Orange
architecture firm. Gayle Merino has been
active in numerous community organizations.
Merino and her husband were honored on Veteran's Day in 2005 for
donating time, energy and services for the installation of a Veterans Memorial Flag Pole at the Depot
Park Orange Veteran Memorial site.

In Villa Park, Karl Kreutziger pulled papers for that city's
City Council. This year, Kreutziger was named President of Anaheim based
construction firm Driver
SPG a subsidiary of California's CW Driver
construction company. In March, Kreutziger won the CREW-OC SPIRE Award for
Superior Performance in Philanthropy. The award recognizes a person in
commercial real estate in OrangeCounty.

Orange
Unified Area 4 Trustee Kathy Moffat put to rest rumors that she might not seek
re-election to a fifth term when she pulled papers to run again in November. First elected in the 2001 Orange Recall,
Moffat has spent most of her current term battling Trustee Timothy Surridge and
his allies on the OUSD Board over the Peralta Site surplus property. Moffat has argued the property is an
invaluable asset as a possible future school site in a community that is
totally built out as Surridge and his allies have tried to first lease, then
sell the property to developers.

Moffat's
move for re-election comes two days after Zachary Collins pulled papers to run
for the Area 4 trustee seat.

In
his twenties, in 2010 Collins had declared in the California Lt. Governor race,
but then withdrew. In an email to Orange
Net News, Collins explained what led him to declare then later withdraw from
the race:

Yes
I did take a shot for the Lieutenant Governor position for our great State I
did so on the basis that all parties should never let any seat go un-contested.
That is my moral standpoint. If you allow an incumbent to win by default or
slide back into office with such ease, there is no campaigning and certainly no
light shed on key events that the public must be made aware of. Once a more
qualified candidate did throw his hat in the ring, I quietly and without
hesitation stood down.

Collins
further explains in his email that an
alleged sex scandal that he reported to someone in Orange Unified, but did not get a response to until 4 years later after hinting about an election, is what prompted his campaign for OUSD Trustee.

The
Collins' email states that the OUSD Board "did nothing about it, let alone
respond, for almost 4 years" to an alleged sex scandal involving teachers
and students. He writes that " Our board has explicit knowledge
and details that I (and many others) have provided to them about". Collin's in his email states he
provided "concrete evidence including photographic evidence". His email states that:

They
only responded, within an hour I might add, when I emailed them saying "I
understand 4 out of the 7 seats are up for re-election, good luck." That
shows their true colors and character, which is why I am running.

The
Collin's allegations of course go beyond a political attack and leave many
questions unanswered. Collins' email does not indicate who in Orange Unified he
reported his allegations to nor what the eventual alleged response was 4
years later. Nor does Collins indicate whether he reported his allegations to law enforcement authorities, which of course
seems like a logical step in an alleged sex scandal-complete with photographic
evidence.

Steve Rocco

The
four year grand conspiracy cryptically outlined in the email from the self-
identifying Tea Party enthusiast Collins sounds akin to the many conspiracy theories
professed by another potential OUSD candidate who has also pulled papers to run
in November, former OUSD Trustee Steve Rocco.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Three candidates have pulled for Villa Park races

eLECTIONWatch2014a service ofOrange Net News /O/N/N/Two new candidates pull papers for Villa Park Council race
As of today, three candidates have pulled papers to run for the three Villa Park City Council seats in November. Villa Park Coucnilwomen Diana Fascenelli has pulled papers for relection. Also pulling papers are Sanjay Khetani and Stephen Miller.

none of the three have filed their papers yet, the filing deadline is August 8th unless Frascenelli fails to file which would then extend the deadline by one week.

Controversial perennial candidate Steve Rocco who once won
an OUSD Trustee seat by listing himself as an "educator" has pulled
papers to run for OUSD Area 7 Trustee seat. The Area 7 seat is currently held
by Rick Ledesma -who also pulled papers to run for re-election.

Two days into the filing period and three people so far have
pulled papers for two Orange City Council seats currently held by Councilman
and Mayor Pro Tem Fred Whitaker and Councilman Denis Bilodeau.

Former Councilman Jon Dumitru

FormerOrangeCity
Council member and unsuccessful mayoral candidate Jon Dumitru has pulled papers
for a council seat in a bid for a political come back. Dumitru , who's two mayoral campaigns were mired
in controversy and scandal was soundly defeated in his last campaign by then
Councilwomen and now Mayor Tita Smith. Dumitru had a fund raiser in June, but
currently has no further campaign events listed on his website (Click on:
DUMITRU ).

Former Trustee Kim Nichols

Former Orange Unified Trustee Kimberlee "Kim "
Nichols, who has held numerous community
positions including President of the Orange Library Foundation, has also pulled
papers for the Orange City Council putting to rest the persistent rumor
that she might challenge the unpopular
OUSD Trustee Timothy Surridge who defeated her for the seat. (Click on: NICHOLS 2010 ) .

When Nichols was President of the OUSD Board, she was one of
the community leaders who tried to collect signatures to recall then Trustee Steve
Rocco. When that effort failed, Nichols
pushed through the realignment of the OUSD Trustee Areas which changed Rocco's
home out of his original Trustee area forcing him to run against Rick
Ledesma-but not as an incumbent. Rocco
lost.

Roy Grangoff

Also pulling papers for the Orange City Council race is Roy
Grangoff. Grangoff announced his
campaign in December of 2013 and already has a website and event planned for
this week ( Click on GRANGOFF ).

Meanwhile, perennial Orange City Council candidate Robert
Douglas will again be on the ballot -but not for Orange City Council. Douglas has pulled papers for the Area 4 Trustee Seat for
the Rancho Santiago Community College District currently held by Lawrence
Labrado. Trustee Labardo, a former
educator and Outreach Director for CSU Fullerton, was first appointed to a vacancy on
the RSCCD Board in 1994.

In Villa Park, three
council seats are open. Councilwomen
Diana Fascenelli has pulled papers for re-election. Councilman Brad Reese and Councilwomen
Deborah Pauly are termed out of their seats.
Pauly has recently been a regular fixture at Orange Unified School Board
meetings and there is widespread speculation that she will be running for the
OUSD Trustee Area 4 Seat currently held by Trustee Kathy Moffat.

The controversial Pauly, a self-professed proud Tea Party advocate, was
removed as OC Republican Party Vice Chair in 2012 ( Republican Party )
as she unsuccessfully ran for OC Supervisor (Click On: SUPERVISOR RACE).
At the OUSD June 30, 2014 meeting, Pauly spoke against the 2014
Facilities Bond that was approved for the November ballot by the OUSD Board that night. It is widely believed that Pauly will be
leading the efforts against the OUSD 2014 Bond. On June 15th Pauly posted this on her
Facebook account:

This
is JUST what I wanted to do today...write ballot arguments! ARGH!

eLECTIONWatch2014

Today's summary

Orange Mayor's
Race

No candidates yet

Orange City
Council Seats (2)

Jon Dumitru -Pulled Papers

Ray Grangoff- Pulled Papers

Kimberlee "Kim"Nichols -Pulled Papers

Fred Whitaker-Pulled Papers

Villa ParkCity Council Seats (3)

Diana Fascenelli-Pulled Papers

Orange Unified School
District

Trustee Area 1

No candidates yet

Trustee Area 4

No candidates yet

Trustee Area 5

No candidates yet

Trustee Area 7

Rick Ledesma -Pulled Papers

Steve Rocco- Pulled Papers

Other Noteworthy developments:

Robert Douglas pulled papers for Rancho Santiago Community
College District Seat 4